Trial in Feldkirch

Machete man on trial for attempted murder

The jury court in Feldkirch.

(Bild: Mathis Fotografie)

A drug-addicted Austrian (29) stabbed a cab driver several times with a machete in Buchs (Switzerland) in November 2023. From Tuesday, he will have to stand trial at the Feldkirch jury court. 

The fact that the 46-year-old cab driver is still alive is solely thanks to the skilled surgeons at the hospital in Sankt Gallen. The critically injured man underwent emergency surgery there after the cowardly machete attack. The public prosecutor's office is now accusing the accused (29), who lives in Feldkirch, of the crime of attempted murder.

The terrible crime took place on the evening of November 7 last year. According to the criminal complaint, the unemployed man took a cab from Liechtenstein to Buchs in Switzerland after several phone calls with his drug dealer. When he was unable to pay for the journey at his destination and the taxi driver did not agree to the "cell phone instead of money" deal, the accused quickly pulled out a machete with a 36-centimeter-long blade and rammed it into the cab driver's neck, head and chest several times.

After the victim, who was covered in blood, managed to get out of the vehicle with his last ounce of strength, the machete man fled in the cab to Feldkirch. During his escape he rammed into two parked cars. Even a police patrol and customs officers were initially unable to stop the accused, but in the end the handcuffs clicked.

Only partially sane
According to the indictment, the accused claims that he cannot remember the crime he is accused of, but does not deny it. If found guilty as charged, the 29-year-old could face between ten and twenty years in prison, or even life imprisonment in the worst case.

According to the expert opinion of psychiatrist Reinhard Haller, the accused, who is of Turkish origin, is said to have a high level of criminal energy due to his drug and alcohol addiction. At the time of the crime, he was only of limited sanity, which is why the public prosecutor's office is considering placing the 29-year-old in an institution for lawbreakers in need of rehabilitation. The accused is presumed innocent. The trial begins on Tuesday.